Traditional clamps for securing capacitors to a support structure of an electronics assembly typically utilize a radial fastener to generate a clamping force around the capacitor (much like some pipe clamps). However, such radial fastening arrangements require a particular footprint area (i.e., xy area) of the electronics assembly in order to install the clamp, because of the lateral distance of the radial fastener portion that extends outwardly/laterally (and because of the clearance required to insert a tool (screw driver) in a radial direction to install the clamp. This negatively influences the distance between adjacent capacitors by increasing such distance, which therefore increases the envelope size of a particular electronics assembly. Because of this, such capacitor clamps result in inefficient and less dense component packaging and assembly time than might otherwise be necessary.
These traditional capacitor clamps also provide a rigid-to-rigid interface connection from the support structure to the capacitor via the clamp. Thus, with experienced shock and/or vibration on the electronics assembly (e.g., such as might occur in rugged environments), the capacitors are often strained at their pinned or solder connection point to a circuit board because such shock and/or vibration loads readily transfer directly through such rigid-to-rigid interface connections. This is particularly problematic in applications that use a number of adjacent larger, high-voltage capacitors (e.g., those used in radar systems) where the capacitors are desired to be as tightly packaged together as possible due to envelope limitations of the overall electronics assembly. In such systems, these high-voltage capacitors have a larger mass as compared to much smaller capacitors used in smaller electronics assemblies (e.g., PC computers, etc.). The relatively large mass of these high-voltage capacitors makes them more prone to strain as a result of shock and/or vibration imparted on the capacitors.
Moreover, such high-voltage capacitors often require incorporation of an insulation sleeve (e.g., plastic) wrapped around the capacitor, which limits the options for mounting the capacitors because the insulation sleeve cannot be removed or tampered with. In the case of radar systems, a large number of high-voltage capacitors must be closely packaged together and near the radiating elements of the radar system, which is difficult to achieve with traditional capacitor clamps.
Therefore, there is a desire to address these problems (i.e., packaging size and strain) with one or more types of clamps that provide a smaller, more efficient packaging system, and/or that reduce or eliminate strain on the electrical connection interface between the capacitors and a circuit board.
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended.